The Spiritual Significance of Music reviews
THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF MUSIC
Justin St. Vincent (ed.)
Filled with the thoughts of many musicians about music and spirituality, this book would be of special interest to those familiar with modern music. It covers a wide range of background beliefs and musical styles, and is useful if you want to get in touch with what many people are thinking about music and its significance. It is the sort of thing you could flick through and find the artists that are of interest, or skim read to get an idea of the sorts of things musicians believe about their music. The writings are real, honest opinions by the artists themselves.
At the back of the book is a list of brief biographies of all the musicians interviewed. All the musicians are photographed through the book. Though this book does not have a specific Christian bias, the Christian and non-Christian musicians interviewed are all presented honestly. Beliefs range from musicians like Gorgoroth who is a self proclaimed Satanist, through secular spirituality, to Christian musicians such as ‘Petra’, ‘Stryper’ and a group called ‘Selah’ which has a lovely Biblical exposé on music and worship.
As a resource for what is behind the music of today and what people believe about it, this book could be of interest to music students, parents of teenagers, or anyone interested in music. AC
THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF MUSIC
Justin St. Vincent (Ed.)
Xtreme music
St Vincent has interviewed musicians and writers around the world, asking the same question: what is the connection between music and spirituality? Their answers are enlightening, uplifting and sometimes, surprising. Not all are Christians – in fact some are Satanists! – but all recognise that music is a reflection of the soul. It is a shame the author couldn’t have provided a summary or comment on his findings with a short treatise on what the scripture says about music and worship. WN
THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF MUSIC
Justin St Vincent (ed.)
Xtreme Music
Here music meets spirituality – two huge topics in their own right! The author has interviewed and collected together the opinions of one hundred people working in the music industry. A broad range of musos are represented – from the 1960s vocal pop group 5th Dimension (Age of Aquarius) to 1980s new wave group Devo, Australian Christian band Sons of Korah to Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar, Hawaiian chant musician Antion to Dr Ken Aigen (academic and music therapist), violinist Daniel Kobialka to Swedish death metal group Unleashed. And there’s more: sound engineers, DJs, music festival organisers, songwriters, composers and authors. Their responses are diverse too. For example, some see music as an antidote to materialism, or a transcendent influence during life’s darker moments, or a tool of Satan, or a fascinating look into the character of God, or a glimpse into heaven here on earth. And there are many more opinions. Whether the reader agrees or disagrees with a particular viewpoint, the compiler provides many springboards for discussion or further exploration. NS